Fire and Ice
by Elillierose
Summary: War is bad enough as it is, but when you put the cold environment and the unforgiving conditions of the north with it, the war would be the last thing to have to worry about. Rated T for language and maybe some violence. Slight Royai in some places. And I promise I will work on a more appropriate cover for this. XD
1. Bitter Cold

Chapter 1: Bitter Cold

It stung, it stung like thousands of tiny needles. Who knew that wind could be so very painful. The wind combined with the tortuous cold could truly be a cruel thing to have to endure for so long. He stayed put in his position, not daring to move a muscle in fear that he may be spotted by the enemies. He stayed there and struggled to keep his shivering down to a minimal. These conditions made concentration a difficult and unbearable thing hold out. 'Focus on something.', he told himself repeatedly hoping that his body would listen to his thoughts. He was starting to become numb from the piercing winds and the blistering snow that lied beneath him. War was a cruel thing, but it's cruelty was nothing in comparison to this amount freezing pain. He couldn't stay like this much longer before he would lose feeling altogether; just like he had in his hands and feet.

Different things began to cross his mind. If he wasn't killed by a bullet, then he most certainly would by hypothermia, or even frostbite. He had to move before it started to set in. He checked his surroundings in search of some other cover he could move to. He was currently hidden by a decently sized mound of snow that was slowly being washed away from the wind. Only problem was that he was not well camouflaged. His blue uniform would give him away immediately, that is if they were able to see through the blizzard raging at full force. Then he saw something. It was a long shot, but it was his only hope. Off to his left was a small batch of trees. It wasn't much, yet it would have to do for he had no other choice if he wanted to have a chance at survival. He took a deep breath and felt the cold air bitterly attacking his lungs. He held it there for a few moments before pushing himself forward, stumbling slightly as his legs protested heavily against the sudden movement that was forced upon them. The adrenaline was the only component that was driving the man forward and preventing him from collapsing on the spot.

He reached the trees in what seemed to be ages. Not a single shot was fired which must have meant he went unnoticed. That, or they had been fired and he just couldn't hear them over the constant moaning of the storm. He allowed himself to slide down the trunk of one of the trees and sunk down back into the harsh embrace of the frozen rain. This did not work well to his advantage as his gloves have been severely dampened by this unfortunate weather he was faced with. He ran his finger along the markings upon one of them, unable to feel what he was touching due to the lack of sensory he was left with. "Why did it have to be here?" He asked aloud to himself. His unanswered question was then followed by a sigh of frustration.

He knew the enemies were out there, but he did not know where exactly. He had not seen any sign of them for hours; however, that did not mean that they were not out there, waiting. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike with an ambush. He could only wait as anticipation scratched at his heart, digging it's way out slowly. The wait was tearing away and consuming his sanity. And the cold, it was a non-stop reminder of the utter anguish it was creating. He was truly and completely miserable. It was destroying what little focus he had left on the world around him. It became the only thing he could even think about as he pulled his limbs in closer to the rest of his body in order to try and retain the little body heat that remained in his frozen form. That did little to help the situation.

Within moments he could feel the world seeping through his non-feeling fingers as he approached closer and closer to sleep. He felt so very tired. He wanted so badly to just sleep, but fought hard against that temptation in fear he may not wake back up if he did. That was a risk he absolutely would not take. Sadly, it seemed as though his body was winning the battle over his logic and sense. The light he saw was dimming in front of him, and the roaring of the wind sounded like it was subsiding. And everything was peaceful while the cold agony was dissipating. Within moments he was relaxed and content.

"...el? ...lonel? Colonel?"

He heard a familiar voice, but couldn't quite put a face to it.

"Are you awake?"

Of course he was now. And he was annoyed that someone would rip him away from such a pleasant feeling. "...Hm?" Was all he managed to get out before the coldness around him returned and greeted him fiercely. But there was something else he felt as well, I small hint of warmth. He opened his eyes slightly until he could see a glint of orange in his vision. It was a small fire burning not to far from where he was currently. A little more off to the side he saw another color. This color was a red blur to him, and then he was able to put a face with that voice. "Fullmetal?"

At this the red blur shifted and made it's way closer to him. "So, you are awake. Can't have you dying on us, now can we?"

"We?" Who else was there, he could only see Ed, and he did not hear anyone else's voices other than his. He lifted his head to look around, which was quite difficult because his body did not want to cooperate against the low temperatures. Still, he did not see anyone else. Who was he talking about then?

"Hawkeye went to gather some more firewood, she should be back shortly." Roy only nodded and pushed himself up into a sitting position. With that a wave of dizziness overtook him temporarily. Luckily for him, Ed did not notice. Every movement caused intense stinging all over, almost felt like burning. The cold air must have damaged his skin and made it sensitive. The cold really was a bitter and distasteful bitch. He looked down to his hands which were still clad with his famous ignition gloves. And still they were damp and of no use. Carefully he pulled each one off and unsteadily got to his feet. "Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

"My gloves are wet, I need to get them dry." He continued towards the fire and gently placed them next to the all-too-familiar flames. The way the danced about and flicked in different directions was enough to sooth and calm him. Almost as if they were a sense of security. For a while he only stood there, losing himself in his admiration for the element. When he finally snapped out of he noticed how dark the sky had become from when he had last seen it. It was night time. Had he really been asleep that long? Yet, he still felt so exhausted

"Sir, glad to see you're alright." He turned to look behind him and saw the woman he trusted more than anyone. She walked up next to him and placed a few pieces of wood on the dying fire and laid the rest nearby. "Are you sure you should moving around?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." That was only partially true. He was in fact fine and unharmed, but he was also in a state misery from the sheer weight of the cold. "We need to head back to our camp. We cannot stay out here in the open like this." This he was right about. There were still enemies out there, and not to mention they had a fire which would easily give away their location.

"Are you sure about that Mustang?" Ed asked, clearly worried. "Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow, you know, when we can see?"

As a response to that question, Roy picked up one of his gloves, which were now dry enough to produce some spark. He snapped his fingers and sent a string of flames in a random direction. "We'll be able to see just fine."

"Good point, but do you even know which way that is?"

"No, but I am assuming that you two had come from there and therefore should remember which way that is. Am I wrong?"

Of course he wasn't. "Fine, I'll lead the way." Ed knew there was no point in arguing; Roy was a stubborn bastard and would have it his way. "Try not to slow us down." Ed gave a playful smirk and began walking in the direction of the military's campsite with flame after flame lighting his path. Minute upon hour they trudged through the thick sheets of cold. Each step becoming more and more torturous than the last. They all wanted to arrive at the camp as soon as possible because the cold world was a bitter one.


	2. Instructions

Chapter 2: Instructions

The campsite was finally in sight after what seemed like a lifetime to the three of them. They were all borderline numb; Roy most of all from his earlier experience with the harsh nature of the winter environment. For him that was the most beautiful sight he had beheld in the last two to three days. It was now only about a mile away from them, yet it still seemed to be just out of their reach. His momentum was growing a little sluggish and delayed as he began to get sleepy once again, 'Not good.', he thought as he continued to push himself forward trying to ignore his conscious pulling against his will. There wasn't much further to go. His balance was getting more difficult to keep control of and a stumbled quite frequently. I was about to lose his balance once again when he felt a light grip upon his arm. It was Ed, holding onto his arm to help keep him from falling over.

"Almost there." He said in a reassuring voice, trying to keep the older man focused on walking. They reached the campsite in a matter of minutes and were quickly greeted by many other members of the military. "I think the colonel needs some medical attention." He said as he shifted his weight to better support his superior.

"No, I told you I'm fine. I don't need anything." He voice was weak and shaky from both exhaustion and cold. "I just need to get warmed up is all." He pulled away from Ed's grasp and began making his way towards his tent and went inside without a word.

"Stubborn colonel bastard." Ed said under his breath and let a sigh escape his lips. "Doesn't know his own limits, or doesn't care."

"That has always been a quality of his." Riza said quietly before she made her way towards her own tent. She let the cloth fall behind her and sat down on the small cot near the center of the small shelter. She let a soft smile make its way onto her face, then she lied down on her side and pulled the covers over her body and drifted off to sleep.  
-

Roy was curled up on his own cot trying to warm himself off, but it wasn't working as well as he wanted it to. The tent did little to ward off the cold from the outside. He rubbed his hands together furiously trying to produce some sort of heat from the amount of friction he was creating. The longer he stayed like that the heavier his eyelids became until he struggled to keep them even partially open. Just as he was on the verge of sleep he heard someone enter his tent and he snapped awake. He sat up and turned towards the person that entered. It was one of the low-ranking officers that had been stationed there.

"Sir, you are needed to discuss a certain matter at hand." That was all he said before saluting Mustang and exiting back outside. Roy sighed heavily, clearly not in the mood for any sort of discussion, but knew there was no use trying to avoid it. He hesitantly got back to his feet; another wave of dizziness washing over him, and he staggered back out. Ed was walking in the same direction that Roy was about to head, no doubt it was for the same reason. Roy walked up beside him and joined the tread up to the main tent where the Fuhrer was staying at.  
"What do you think he wants?" Ed broke the silence between the two.

"There's no telling. I can guarantee that it won't be pleasant though." He answered quite honestly.

Ed looked at the colonel skeptically, "Are you sure you're okay?" Ed just noticed how pale the man looked as well as the deep shades that had developed beneath his eyes. He didn't think he looked like that earlier.

"I told you I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." Ed didn't completely believe him, but for now he would except that excuse. He didn't feel like pushing the subject further at the moment.

"Let's just get this over with." He changed the subject as they made their way to right outside the entrance of the tent. Roy pulled back the cloth and entered, closely followed by Ed.

"Ah, there you to are." King Bradley smiled up at them and gestured for them to approach the table standing directly in front of him, which was covered in maps and other documents. "Glad to see you guys made it back here in one piece." He sat down in a chair and crossed his arms across his chest. "Now I have some more instructions for you to carry out. I need you to do some investigating on the enemy."

"What?!" Ed blurted out without thinking about it. "We just got back from one of your 'investigations', and we barely made it back. Are you trying to send us out to our dea-?"

"Ed! Enough!" Mustang cut him off and gave him one of his threatening glares. "I shouldn't have to remind you how to speak to a commanding officer. I'm sorry about this sir."

"No, no, it's quite alright. He's upset, I can understand that. But, he should also understand the importance of my instructions and follow them without question." He fixed his gaze upon Ed without a hint kindness. "I want you two to set off first thing in the morning. I will meet with you to assess the situations. You two should get some rest until then."

Roy and Ed left without another word. Roy was still struggling just to walk in a straight line and keep his eyes open. Ed put his hands behind his head, "Well I'm starved. Imma go get something to eat. Do you want to join?"

"No, go without me, I'm not hungry. I just want to go to sleep."

"Colonel, we have been gone for almost two days. You have to eat something."

"I will when I'm hungry." Roy turned to his tent before Edward could protest any further and lied back down on the cot, then pulled the cover around his body tightly. It wasn't long at all until his vision went black and the real world no longer existed to him. All that existed was that cot and his dreams. And it felt nice; It felt nice to finally drift away without the fear of freezing to death when he did.

It didn't last long though. He woke up to a tight feeling that was developing in his chest, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. "Damn cold." he mutter to himself as he shivered under the cover. He sat up and cleared his throat hoping that the feeling would go away, but of course, it did not. His throat only felt foggier and thicker, and he found the urge to clear is throat ever so stronger. Every attempt at sleep was disturbed and ruined by this uncomfortable sensation. So, for the remainder of the night he only sat in silence, hoping that sleep would eventually overtake him. It was to no avail. It wouldn't be long until he had to get up to set out. "Damn instructions."


	3. Shelter

Chapter 3: Shelter

Light began to seep through the seems of the tent slightly warming up the chill among the air. Roy found the light to be quite annoying, not because it woke him up; he was already awake, but because it was an indication that they would have to be leaving soon to fill out the Fuhrer's orders. He sighed quietly and sat up, pulling the cover off him as he did so only to be welcomed by the frosty air around him. He shivered as it touched his skin. He had gone to sleep in his uniform, so he didn't have to bother himself with getting dressed and ready. He didn't even bother straightening up his hair. I merely brushed off his wrinkled uniform and made his way over to Ed's tent to wake him up.

He pulled the cloth aside an peeked inside at a still sleeping Edward. He was not surprised by this and lightly placed a hind on his shoulder, then he began to shake him calmly. The boy only mumbled something incoherent and pulled the cover tighter around himself. "Wake up." He said sternly, shaking him a bit more harshly than his previous attempt. "We have to leave soon, Fullmetal." He was beginning to get irritated, and he really not was not in the mood for this childish behavior being displayed before him. Gritting his teeth, he quickly yanked the covers from around Ed and tossed them in a heap on the ground. "I don't feel like playing your games, now get up." The more he talked, the scratchier his throat felt and he felt the need to clear it once again.

Ed lifted his head to look at the man standing above him. "What do you want?" He asked while rubbing the back of his head.  
"Come on, we have to leave soon." He stood there for a few moments, waiting for Ed to make a move to get up. Alas, he did not."Are you going to get up, or do I have to drag you out?"

"I'm going, so don't worry your colonel ass off." He sluggishly got to his feet rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He grabbed his red coat and through it on over himself. He looked up at Roy, taking note of his appearance. Ed wasn't sure, but Mustang looked slightly paler than last night. "You don't look so good."

"And I don't feel good either. I didn't get much sleep last night." That wasn't a lie, he did lie awake for the majority of the night trying to go to sleep. His lungs still felt a burning tingle and his throat felt dry and itchy. Not to mention he was exhausted and worn out from the previous day. Yet, he felt like he hasn't slept in weeks, and it was definitely showing on his face. His normally perfect posture was off by a bit and his eyes had little to no focus in them. "Come on, we have to go." He turned and left the tent to meet with the Fuhrer right outside the campsite.  
When he arrived out there Riza was standing there with the King Bradley waiting for he other two to show up. Roy was not aware that she was to be joining them, but he couldn't help but to feel some joy at the fact that she was. He gave her a soft smile and joined her at her side, closely followed by Ed. Bradley only nodded at her before retreating back into the camp. Mustang was guessing the Riza had already been told the details. He was a little happy about that because that was less of the Fuhrer's voice that he had to endure.

"I have the map marked for where we have to be." She said this as she pulled a folded up maps out of one of her pockets. She looked up at Mustang, but decided that she shouldn't comment on his appearance given he would deny it anyway, or come up with some sort of excuse. That didn't stop her from being concerned though. "I'll lead the way. " She knew Ed was no good at reading maps, and Roy looked like he wasn't able to read anything, let alone lead the other two. The other's said nothing about this and let her take the role of leading them in the correct direction and prevent them from getting lost again. At least there was no more sign of a blizzard coming along anymore, that would make the trip a hell of a lot easier.

/

Within a few hours they were a few miles from the campsite; they would have gotten further if not for the thick snow that had wade through. Their legs were beginning to tire from the extra work it took just to walk. White was the only thing visible for miles upon miles. White that is covered by gray, that gray being the sky. It was dreary to say the least; dreary and depressing and horrible. What should have only taken about a day of walking seemed as though it would take at least two days, possibly even a little longer than that. They were given a very limited amount of provisions so as not to weigh them down and make the journey any harder than it had to be. It was already hard enough with the few things that they did have to carry, such as guns.

"We've been walking for hours, can't we take a short break before we freeze to death out here." Ed was in the back, getting impatient at their speed and took it upon himself to start complaining about it. "I mean, can't we build a quick fire and at least thaw out a little."

"You know as well as I do that is too much of a risk. Like I said last night, we are out in the open as it is. We do not need a fire making our position even more obvious than it already is for any unwanted guests." He cleared his throat at the end of that sentence which only resulted in the need to let out a few light coughs. This only irritated his throat further and caused the itch to return at the back of it. A very annoying spot for an itch. And the cold was doing nothing but making it all worse. His body urged him to fulfill Ed's wish to take a break, but his mind was too busy warning against that. His mind was the more logical and powerful one in this case. "We can rest when we find some sort of decent cover to shield us against others."

"What about that?" Roy turned his attention back toy Ed who had his index finger extended out to the side pointing to something in the distance that could hardly be seen. From this distance it looked to be some sort of a shack. From looking at it, he could estimate that it would take at least a few hours to reach it. So, it would be past noon by the time they arrived. They wouldn't be able to stay there long until the sun started to go down again and the temperature would drop down a great amount once again. As tempting as it would be for them to stay there, they have to move more during the night to keep themselves hidden better. It would do little good to stay the night there and travel during the day only to get themselves killed.

"I guess that will do then." Roy could hear how his own voice sound a tad bit raspy from the dryness of his throat. And his voice broke of at the end. He let out a few more light coughs trying ease the feeling. Both Ed and Riza heard this, but neither one bothered asking about knowing that there was no point in doing so. There was clearly something no right, but there was no way that the colonel would ever admit that; it was obviously a bad habit on his part.

They drew nearer to the small building, and they could finally see how bad of a condition it was really in. Still, it would have to do. There were a few boards broken away from it, revealing the poor state of the inside. There was light snow on the floor that must have leaked in through the holes and the walls and the ones on the ceiling. The whole thing looked as though it could collapse at any moment. "Well Ed, here is your five star resort." Roy snorted sarcastically. Ed just waved his hand at him and entered the nothing-but-debris-to-be. The others did the same and stood there for a moment to get a full look at their surroundings.

"We should start a fire." Riza said as she began looking for wood scraps from the building.

"Right." Mustang took out his gloves, feeling them to make sure that they were still dry. He was satisfied to see that they were indeed damp free. He slipped the thick glove off his right hand and replaced it with the thinner and more dangerous one. He watched as Riza deposited the wood she collected into a small pile. She ripped up some of the loose floor boards until she could see the ground underneath. Placing the wood inside the hole she was convinced that it would help keep the fire from spreading. She took a step back, giving Roy room to do his thing. One snap later and the had a small flame. Big enough to provide warmth, but small enough to not be seen from a distance. He switch gloves once more and sat down next to the flame along with the other two.

"How long to you think it will take us to get there?" Ed asked looking over at the others.

"About two days, give or take. If we're lucky that is." It was Roy who answered  
Ed let out a distasteful sigh and pulled his knees in closer to his chest. "Why did he have to send us again? I mean aren't there others there that could have handled this?"

"He can be cruel like that." He was trying to keep his sentences short and to the point to keep from aggravating his throat and lungs any further.  
They sat there in silence for some time. The fire had begun to die down and the chill was morphing back around them. Riza placed some more wood in the hole while Roy ignited it once again. Still, all was silent and no one said a word. After a few more moments they were all huddled close to the flames and on the verge of sleep. And it wasn't long before it took over and they were all asleep.

There they stayed like that, even as the sun started moving out of sight and the darkness consumed the world around them. But this time, the coldness did not return to them and they remained asleep for quite some time.

Heat, lots and lots of warmth. Too much warmth actually. Roy felt too much heat to the point where it almost burned. What was this feeling? He cracked open one of his eyes to be overwhelmed with brightness. Shades of orange and red were everywhere. They were the cause of this immense temperature radiating in all directions. Fire, something he knew all to well. It was burning and merciless flames that would devour anything and everything in their path, and they were no exception.


	4. Frozen Flames

Chapter 4: Frozen Flames

"Riza! Ed!" Roy called over the roaring of the flames. He couldn't see anything through the smoke and was depending on his hearing to find them. Panic had obliterated his sense of formality as the smoke clouded around him. It was almost intolerable and he was struggling to breathe properly because of it. "Where are you two!? Say something dammit!" He pushed himself through the billows and walls of grey and black clouds, being wary of the flames licking at his legs and arms. Fear was starting to get the better of him and hid logic and sense abandoned him. "Hey!" Still nothing. He was getting extremely worried, until he heard some movement off to the side. He wasted no time going over to it. "Please answer me."

"Mustang!?" That was Ed's voice.

"Ed!? Where are y-!?" He was cut off as a sudden attach of coughs washed over him. He fell down to his knees from the pure force it. He couldn't catch his breath and his eyes were starting to water from the stinging they felt. He had to place his hand on the floor just to keep himself from falling out completely. Then he felt a light touch on his shoulder.

"Sir, come on." I was Riza standing next to him. "Ed is already out, we need to go too." She pulled him up to his feet even with him still softly coughing and trying to breathe properly. He still couldn't open his eye all the way from the pain, but he did feel a shift in the temperature. Everything suddenly became cold and freezing again. It felt wonderful in comparison to the inferno before, but it also felt terrible at the same time. It was somewhat of a bitter-sweet moment for him. Riza lowered him to the ground and released he grip on him. "Sir, are you alright?"

He took in a deep shaky breathe, forcing him to let out another harsh cough, "Fine. I'm ... fine." He pushed himself to his hands and knees taking in short fast breaths. It was the only way he was able to breathe without causing more distress to his already strained lungs. " How ... did this ... happen? How did ... it spread ...without ...us noticing?" He unsteadily got to his feet, slightly hunched over.

"We fell asleep, it could have easily spread during that time. No one was awake to keep an eye on it. Such a careless and stupid mistake."

"No. I've seen ... fire spread. The patterns. The patterns ... weren't right."

"Are you saying this wasn't an accident?" Ed asked in confusion. Roy only nodded no wanting to speak anymore.

Riza spoke up, "We have to get moving in that case. If someone else caused this then I'm almost certain they aren't far. Are you sure you're alright colonel?"

"Said I'm ... fine. Just need ... to catch my breath." He coughed a few more times and stood back in his normal posture. Once he was certain his balance was stable enough he decided to speak. "Let's go."

/

And again, they were back to the endless walking. The temperature was easily below zero by this point and there was now a light breeze. It stung like shards of glass were being thrown at them at full force. In front of them they could see nothing, and behind them the blazing could still be seen. All three were exhausted and they were all beginning to slow down their pace. The cold was overwhelming and felt like a huge weight upon their shoulders crushing them beneath its burden. "Damn it's cold." Ed bluntly stated the obvious.

"Nice observation skills, Fullmetal."

"You sound terrible." His voice was weak sounding and raspy. It sounded a lot worse than it did earlier anyway. "You're not getting sick are you?" Sort of a to-the-point question and he should have known that he wasn't going to get a straight answer.

"Of course not. It was that damn smoke I breathed in. Now no more questions." He knew something was wrong, he could feel it. But, he just did not want the others to start worrying about him because they all had more important things to be concerned with. He didn't want to be the one slowing them down. As long as he could still walk and fight properly, he wasn't even worried about it himself. He could just only hope that this was the extent of it and it would not continue to worsen. "We need to focus on somewhere else to hide until we are sure it's safe to go forward with this. Look for anything that will keep us out of sight."

"In case you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of freaking nowhere. Where the hell are we supposed to hide? Under the snow? Or perhaps your ego is big enough to shelter us." Roy felt his eyebrow twitching, trying to resist the pleasure of punching him in the back of the head.

"I'm surprised I can still even see you over the snow, shrimp."

"Shrimp!? At least I'm still useful when it rains Mr. Doused Flames."

"Will you two knock it off. Now is not the time for this. You can continue after we are in a safe place." The other two immediately quieted. "There are mountains not too far away, I'm sure we can kind a decent enough place to hide out there. But, we have to get going before we are found if we're not already."

"You're right. Now is not the time." His vision unexpectedly became fuzzy and blurry. He swayed lightly where he stood, but managed to stay on his feet. A subtle pulsing could be felt behind his eyes which slowly went away along with the dizziness. Riza kept her eyes locked on him just in case he was in need of her help, but she was relieved to see him recollect himself so quickly. She was still highly concerned for the man and that uneasy feeling seemed to be growing along with his condition.

"You always push yourself too far." She whispered under her breath, low enough that no one could hear her. 'Why can't you ever put yourself before your comrades?'

Ed could also tell something wasn't right. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out, the guy could hardly even talk now at a reasonable volume. Not to mention he would clear his throat every few minutes. He was honestly getting annoyed because he was trying to deny it all as if it were nothing at all. Nothing but bullshit excuses. It wouldn't be long before it all caught up to him. Before those flames of his would freeze over.


	5. Fight Fire with Fire

**Sorry this chapter is so short, I promise to try and make the next one longer. I thought this story could use a bit of a plot twist. :D**

Chapter 5: Fight Fire with Fire

They had finally reached the mountains without any further obstacles or complications. They saw no enemies on the way there either, which could have either been a bad thing or a good thing. They walked alongside the mountains for quite some time, searching for a place where they would be able to come up with a strategy in peace. As if on cue, an opening came into their view. It looked like a cave, a fairly small one, but it would be able to contain the three of them with ease. Plus he was mostly hidden from view from the snow. Riza was the one to first spot this and pointed the other two in the direction of it.

The cave was indeed small, dark and damp, quite stereotypical really. Also it had that lovely ice coating feature about it. This time, though, they had nothing available to them so they could start a fire. All they had were a couple candles in case they ran into a situation such as this one. Three candles were lit and they were placed down next to each of them. The heat from them melted a small amount of ice around them and created tiny little pools of water. Riza then pulled out three energy bars from her bag. She handed one to Ed first, who gratefully thanked her for it. Then she handed one to Roy, who only shook his head and held his hand up in refusal.

"You have to keep your energy up sir, even if you don't want it, you have to eat it."

"I can't. I hate to admit it, but I think I might get sick if I do." He placed his head in his right hand as the pulsing behind his eyes had intensified from earlier. He felt a cold touch upon his face, and it actually felt kind of nice. Looking up to see what it was, he saw that it was Riza's hand.

"You feel warm."

"Hm." He lifted his head back up. "Guess there's no use denying it now, huh?" He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the cave. "To tell the truth, I feel like shit." He chuckled softly which only caused a fit of coughing again. After a short while it subsided, leaving him taking in gasps of air. "Dammit, that hurts." His lungs now felt like the were being ripped apart from that last episode.

'That can't be good.' Ed thought to himself, his worry starting rise with each and every passing moment. "I think some rest would do you some good. And now might be one of the only opportunities we get. Don't worry, I can keep watch."

"Don't be stupid Ed." Roy straightened himself up. "There's no time to be taking a 'break'. We need to come up with a plan. We all know they're out there, and none of us can afford to let our guard down." As if to make his point more clear, he pulled of his gloves and replaced them with his ignition ones. "You must always be prepared." He snapped his fingers and sent a streak of flames flying past Ed's head and outside the cave, melting snow in it's raging path. "Show yourself!" He said has he got up to his feet.

"Heh, I guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought I was. So, what gave me away?"

"Your stench was just too overpowering." Mustang replied with a smirk. His face quickly changed to a more serious one as he snapped his fingers once again. This time with the full intent of killing the man that stood in front of him. Ed and Riza had to shield their eyes from the power emitting off the blast. The light radiating from the attack was enough to blind a man. There was no hesitation between that snap and the next, aimed for the exact same spot as the last explosion of flames. Another wave of heat and intense light, followed by nothing but silence and heavy breathing. Roy narrowed his eyes and let out a frustrated growl. "I didn't get him. You coward! Come back out and fight me with some dignity!" He strode out of the cave with his hand raised and ready for another attack.

"Up heeeere." Roy look up to see the man hanging on the side of the mountain, smiling and waving at him. He was mocking him. "What's wrong? Having a hard time keeping up are we?" Roy snapped again, sending another blast from his fingertips at the enemy. What he did not expect though, was for fire to be returned to him. He barely managed to get out of the way in time as the heat created a puddle of water where Roy was standing just seconds ago. As the steam and smoke cleared he saw the man had moved once again.

"What the hell was that?" Ed asked running next to Mustang accompanied by Riza.

"I think that was ... flame alchemy." He looked around, searching for the alchemist. "Tch, He's gone again." He collapsed down onto his hands and knees, going into another flood of coughing. This time was worse than the first, probably from the over exertion his body could not handle at the moment. Riza put her hand on his back and patted gently, trying to comfort him. He shakily stood back up, wiping his mouth as he did so. As he stepped forward, Ed noticed he dragged his foot, dragging snow with it. He thought maybe he hurt id leg or something, but he didn't do it again, just that once. He covered something up. He was trying to hide something. Ed wasn't quite sure what he was hiding, but he did have a good idea.


	6. Blood-Stained Snow

**I apologize ahead of time if there are any spelling errors. I do not have word on my laptop and have resorted to using wordpad which has no spell check. So I have to paste it in here and then look through it for mistakes.**

Chapter 6: Blood-Stained Snow

All was silent and still in the cave wit the occasional cough and falling of a chunk of snow form the outside. It was well into the night by now and the temperature had dropped down significantly. They did plan on traveling during the night, but with that last encounter they decided that it would be better to hold off on that until there was some natural light outside. The candles flicked and whipped, threatening to give out at any given moment. They could only hope that they would last the night because they only had a few more stashed away and they would have much rather saved those for a more dire situation. They did not give off much heat by any means, but it was the best they could manage and it would just have to suffice. They would have built a fire, but that proved to be rather difficult with the lack of flammable materials and all.

Roy was the only one who had fallen asleep, not on purpose of course, while the other two merely dozed in and out fighting to stay awake. They could have woke him up, yet they figured he could use the sleep and just left him as he was. He was curled up on his side, doing what he could to retain what little body heat was there. He stirred slightly every now and again, but never actually woke up. The others scooted closer to him and each other to share the heat they gave off, trying their best to get as warm as possible, which still wasn't much at all, but better than nothing all the same.

Riza took her hand and gently brushed Mustang's bangs out if his face, and feeling the small dampness in it. There was a perspiration lightly coating his forehead. She retrieved of cloth from one of her coat pockets and tenderly wiped the moisture from his face. He let a soft moaning noise escape his lips as his eyes slit open and he quickly pushed himself up and held his head in his right hand. "How long was I asleep?"

"For a few hours sir. Give or take." She pulled out her watch to check the time, "About an hour and half."

"Why did you let me fall asleep? I told you we cannot allow ourselves to let our guard down even for a split second." His voice was hoarse and hardly above a whisper "Do you have any idea how risky that is?"

"I understand sir, you have my apologies. It won't happen again."

He leaned against the cave wall, sighing as he did so. He looked completely tired and miserable.

"So, just sit here until the sun comes up? Is that the master plan?" Ed asked sarcastically. "Seems like of bunch of cowardly hiding to me. I say we go hunt them down and take them out before the take us out."

"And how exactly do you suggest that when we don't know where they are, but they know exactly where we are. You see, there is nothing we can do unless they show themselves again. Going after them would be pointless, and above all, suicide." That was followed by a few more coughs and shallow breaths. "We have no choice."

Ed couldn't think of a counter argument for that one. He had a pretty good point, but he still did not like the idea of just sitting there doing nothing and feeling helpless. It was a terrible feeling, almost that of defeat. To be cornered like a bunch of wild animals made him feel weak and sick to his stomach. There had to be something they could do, there just had to be. He refused to accept the fact that they were stuck there. Stuck and paranoid about what was to come next. Shut up in the dark and separated from the outside world. It would be enough to ruin a man if given enough time to soak in its muck and grime. "I guess you're right." He finally said after moments of silence. He still didn't like admitting it though.

/

The sun was starting to rise, warming the place up a little bit, not much but you could feel the change in temperature anyway. A few rays of light escaped through the clouds and leaked into the cave, glistening of its icy interior. It would have been quite magnificent and beautiful if not for their current situation. The candles have long since burned out, trailing streams of wax along the cave floor. I was slightly mixed in with the ice from when the heat from the candle melted it and the two had mixed together. There were a few sheets of ice outside the cave from the fire on fire action that night.

"Let's get going." Roy said getting to his feet and stepping outside. The other two followed the order and went after he did. They did a quick scan of the area before stepping any further away from the cave; being wary of the ice sheets and stepping around them. It was amazing how much damage fire can really do in an environment such as this one. Well at least if they needed extra water they sure knew how to get it quickly.

By now Mustang was having an even harder time breathing properly and evenly. It wasn't consistent like it should have been. It sounded staggered and delayed. His walking also seemed to be off. It was slower and not as strong as usual. It was quite obvious that he was struggling with each and every step he took. His face was still damp with a light sweat, yet it was a deathly pale at the same time. His lungs were on fire and every intake of air was flat-out torture for them. It felt like they were being filled with ice water every time that air entered them. The pulsing behind his eyes had highly intensified from last night and was sending waves of pain throughout his entire head. He pinched the bridge of his nose trying his best to just ignore it all.

Ed was keeping his eyes on his back the entire time they were walking, almost afraid to avert his gaze from the man. Riza appeared to be doing the same, only difference was that she was a bit more subtle about the whole thing. She would look past him and just glance in his direction from time to time. She was finding it near impossible now to say nothing about it and do nothing about it. She wanted so badly to make it all disappear, but sadly there really was nothing that could be done about any of it. She looked back to Ed, who shared the same concerned expression as herself. She looked back ahead just in time to stop herself from running into the colonels back. He had stopped walking and was only standing there with a blank look plastered on his face.

"Colonel, are you alright?" She asked stepping into his view.

He said nothing and continued to sand there staring off at absolutely nothing, until she put her hand on his shoulder and shook gently. "Hm?" He finally asked and/or mumbled looking into her eyes.

"I asked you if you were okay sir?"

"Y-yeah. Sorry, just sort of spaced out there for a second. Don't worry though, it's fine." He pushed past her and kept walking as if nothing had ever happened. Riza and Ed just looked at each other and then back to Roy.

"This is bad." Ed said this quiet enough only for Hawkeye to be able to hear "He's gonna push himself too far, and it is not going to turn out good at all."

"I know, trust me. But, there isn't really anything we can do right now. The only thing we can do is get all this done as soon as possible so we can get back faster and he can get the help that he needs." She began to walk back up next to Roy.

"Wait a minute."

"What is it?" Riza stopped where she was and turned back to face the other blonde. Mustang, unaware of any of this, continued walking on.

"There is something I need to tell you. It's about the colonel. Something I saw." He expression deepened with worry.

"What is it?"

"You know yesterday after the encounter with the other alchemist?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"After that coughing episode of his, he covered something up with the snow. I'm not sure, but I think he may have been hiding something. And I believe that something was blood."

"What!?" She asked in a panicked whisper. "How- how did I miss this? And how could he try to hide something like that from us? Does he not realize just how serious that is?" She was waving her arms as if to add emphasis to her words.

"Well you know him, he does that. That just means that we have to keep an even closer eye on him is all."


	7. Slightly off Course

**I would like to thank you guys for the nice reviews. ^^ And no, I don't plan on abandoning this story, I've just been kinda busy with college and all that, it's been quite demanding. **

**Chapter 7: Slightly off Course**

"We're lost, aren't we?" Ed asked after a few hours of wondering aimlessly through the white-stricken area. It was the first thing to break the silence for quite some time.

"I wouldn't say 'lost', we are merely slightly off course. I assure you that we are going in the right direction." Mustang replied over his shoulder. "Just give it some time, you'll see." He was trying to convince himself more so than the others, or at least that's what it sounded like. He paused for a moment where he was and began to look in different directions as if to pinpoint their exact location. "Hmm, we may be a bit more off than I thought." He hated to admit it, but Ed was right, they were lost. He didn't know how lost, but they definitely lost to some degree of meaning.

"So we're lost. I knew we shouldn't have trusted you with the job of guiding us. The Lieutenant would have been a better choice for that." He put his hands behind his head as he continued forward, averting his eyes off somewhere to the side at nothing. He may have sounded a bit more harsh than he meant to. Anyone could have easily gotten off track with this kind of weather, especially since every inch looked almost exactly the same. After getting a few feet in front of the other two he stopped and looked back at them, "Are you two coming, or are you just going to stand there all day?"

"Just give me a moment, I'm thinking." Roy had his eyes directed towards the ground in front of him.

"Thinking of what? A way to get us even more lost than we already are? We should just keep going straight, we're bound to run into someth-"  
His words were cut short by the deafening sound of a bomb somewhere off in front of them. Ed spun around to see fire and smoke rising up over the hills in the distance.

"Do you still want to continue forward, Fullmetal? We have to be careful about where we go. They wouldn't leave such a large area to go with no protection of some sort. At least we now know that we must be going in the right direction." He snapped his fingers, sending scorching streaks of fire flying ahead of them. Snow began to melt revealing a couple mines that had been buried beneath the white surface only a few feet in front of them. "With your carelessness, you'd be dead right now. Think before you take action."

Ed had nothing to say about this, he was still shocked by how close he had been to these death traps. He only looked down at the mine and then back up to Roy.

"I will clear a path for us, be sure no to so much as touch one of them. I don't know how sensitive they are." Riza glanced over at Ed and gave him a light smile. Roy was much more experienced with this sort of stuff than he looked, and Ed often forgot that. He would just have to trust what he said and do what he said if he wished to survive this. He swallowed his pride and followed suite behind Hawkeye, stepping tenderly around the various metal devices. There were so many of them, more than what seemed necessary. If one were to go off, then they would all surely go off. They wanted to make sure that every living thing that came this way would be terminated.

As they carried on, their pace began to slow more and more until they were down to a gingerly speed. "Is everything alright up there?" Ed asked as he peeked around Hawkeye. At first there was no reply, as if he had said nothing to start with. "Hey, did you hear me?"  
Roy stopped and turned his head towards the younger, "What?"

"I asked if everything was alright up there. We're barely even moving now."

"Yeah, everything's fine." He said nothing more as he turned back around and kept going. Riza and Ed exchanged looks, neither one of them seemed to believe his claim. He sounded off and a little confused, like he was a bit out of it. "I don't think there's much further to go." They looked ahead once more to see that the spaces between the mines had begun to grow, and there were much fewer of them. This went on until there were absolutely no more to be seen.

"That's a relief." Hawkeye stated with a sigh. " I just hope there won't be anymore to have to navigate through." Ed looked just as relieved as she was if not more so. "I think we should stop for a short while." She said after seeing how worn out the colonel appeared. He only nodded before kneeling down in the snow and taking in a few deep breaths, which had proven to be a bad idea. It had only lead to more violent coughing, this time lasting longer than the other times. When it was over he was left taking in short fast breaths to prevent the outbreak from reoccurring. Riza went over and placed a hand on his back, crouching down next to him. "How are you doing, sir?" Her eyes widened when she saw that very small tinge of red escaping from the corner of his mouth.

He saw her expression and quickly wiped the drop away on his sleeve. "It's alright, I'll be fine." He rose back to his feet, "We need to keep going, before the sun goes down. We still don't know where that alchemist is, and I don't want to risk staying out here in the open."

"But where is there to go? Do you see anything, because I sure as hell don't."

"I am not in the mood for your attitude right now, Elric. For once just shut your damn mouth and listen. We can't waste our time standing around and arguing. For all we know he might already know where we are, but there is also a chance that he doesn't. We need to _find _a place to stay in case we are fortunate enough that he does not.


End file.
